Last week’s decision of European heads of state and the European Commission to establish a fiscal union based on permanent quasi-automatic disciplinary mechanisms to secure balanced budgets in the midst of the worst world economic downturn since the 1930s will go down as one of the greatest collective policy errors in post-1945 history. Hailed by self-congratulatory leaders as a sign of political will and a new step forward in unification, the Berlin Consensus forged by conservative elites will more likely lead to the breakdown of Europe.